2.56 Release Report
We are pleased to announce the latest release of Payroll: version 2.56.1.0!
This article is intended to guide you through what's new in Payroll version 2.56, and provide some guidance on how to upgrade your Payroll software to version 2.56, as well as in what order. The articles are best read in the following order:
- Perform the software update by reading the Payroll version 2.56 upgrade instructions [link] (If you are a hosted customer, will be performing the upgrade so you can go straight to the next point)
- Then, look through the new features listed on this page to familiarise yourself with the new content
- Copy your year-end data by reading the Payroll copy year-end instructions [link]
- Then perform the year-end by reading the Payroll RTI Year-end procedure [link]
Note : Payroll guidance on Year-end processing under RTI can be found on the HMRC website:
This version of Payroll introduces the following new features (The full list of changes can be found in the table at the bottom of the article, with the latest release being at the bottom)
- Employment Allowance Increase
Following the announcement of the Spring 2022 budget, we have increased the Employment Allowance for 2022/2023 from £4,000 to £5,000
- New statutory parameters
This release of Payroll included changes to statutory parameters, correct for tax year 2022/2023, as known at the time of release. These include Tax, National Insurance, Statutory payments and benefits
- RTI Submission changes
New elements have been added to the schemas for RTI submissions for the 2022/2023 tax year
- New NI letters for freeports and veterans [Click here for article]
Support has been added for NI letter V for veterans of the armed forces and letters F, I, L and S for employees at freeports
- HMRC password saving [Click here for article]
Payroll now has the option to save passwords for HMRC services (RTI and message download)
- Warning for future leavers
A warning has been added to the check reports if the leave date indicates a leaver, but the future leaver field has not been set to Y
- Linked companies
The naming has changed so the different part companies are now called primary and secondary instead of master and slave
- Automatic recalculation of SMP, SPP etc. [Click here for article]
There is now an option in the pay group to automatically calculate SMP, SPP etc. as part of the normal payroll calculation
- Pay Rises
These will now include employees included in the pay cycle for a payment after leaving, as well as live employees
- Support for the Alabaster ruling
Support has been added so that employees on maternity leave who receive a pay rise that fits the Alabaster rule will receive an adjustment for pay periods before the pay period that the pay rise would normally have applied to
- Health and Social Care Levy message for payslip [Click here for article]
This will automatically appear on payslips if any employee NI is due
- New option to disable pro-rata calculation
When calculating pro rata manually, extra functionality added in version 2.55 allows you to pro rata salaries for employees that are not new starters or leavers. A new option has been added at pay group and individual level to set pro rata to None instead of Manual if this pro-rata calculation is not wanted
Note: if upgrading directly from version 2.54, you can find documentation for the features introduced in version 2.55 here.
The full list of changes can be found in the table below, with the latest release being at the bottom:
Type | Description | Change Notes |
Version 2.56 (04/03/2022) | ||
Product Enhancement | New NI letters for freeports and veterans | Support has been added for NI letter V for veterans of the armed forces and letters F, I, L and S for employees at freeports |
Product Enhancement | New Statutory parameters | Statutory parameters have been updated as per the latest HMRC guidance |
Product Enhancement | HMRC Password saving | Payroll now has the option to save passwords for HMRC services (RTI and message download) |
Product Enhancement | RTI schema field changes | New fields have been added to RTI schemas |
Product Enhancement | Warning for future leavers | A warning has been added to the check reports if the leave date indicates a leaver, but the future leaver field has not been set to Y |
Product Enhancement | Linked companies | The naming has changed so the different part companies are now called primary and secondary instead of master and slave |
Product Enhancement | Automatic recalculation of SMP, SPP etc. | There is now an option in the pay group to automatically calculate SMP, SPP etc. as part of the normal payroll calculation |
Product Enhancement | Pay rises | These will now include employees included in the pay cycle for a payment after leaving, as well as live employees |
Product Enhancement | Support for the Alabaster ruling | Employees on maternity leave who receive a pay rise that fits the Alabaster rule will receive an adjustment for pay periods before the pay period that the pay rise would normally have applied |
Product Enhancement | Health and Social Care Levy message for payslip | This will automatically appear on payslips if any employee NI is due |
Version 2.56.0.1 (09/03/2022) | ||
Issue Resolution | Import of cost breakdown data fails | Import of cost breakdown data now imports successfully |
Version 2.56.0.2 (11/03/2022) | ||
Product Enhancement | When calculating pro rata manually, extra functionality added in version 2.55 means salaries can be pro-rated even when employees are not new starters or leavers | New option added at pay group and individual level to set pro rata to None if this calculation is not wanted |
Version 2.56.0.3 (17/03/2022) | ||
Issue Resolution | Cost/Job breakdown – When saving ShPP, job/cost breakdown records aren’t maintained correctly | When saving ShPP, job/cost breakdown records are now preserved correctly |
Issue Resolution | When minimum wage is shown on payslips the date used to get the parameters for the current tax year was invalid | The employee’s minimum wage, at the current period start date, is now read from the parameters correctly |
Version 2.56.1.0 (28/03/2022) | ||
Issue Resolution | Cost breakdown – If hours are converted to a cost breakdown field and the pay field remains as normal, then fields don’t pull through to the payroll calculation and payslips | If hours are converted to a cost breakdown field and the pay field remains as normal, then fields now pull through to the payroll calculation and payslips |
Product Enhancement | Update of Statutory parameters following Spring budget | Employment Allowance for 2022/2023 has been increased from £4,000 to £5,000 |
This release also contains the changes made in version 2.55. You can find the release report here.
